Coping With Procrastination

7/30/2023

by Jayoti Chabra, LMSW

Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something.

This issue can be linked to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and poor study habits. Procrastination is connected to negative functioning and risks to mental health. People who procrastinate tend to have high levels of anxiety as well as poor impulse control. Procrastination is even linked to physical illness.

Triggers for procrastinators:

The task is boring.
The task is difficult.
The task is frustrating.
The task is ambiguous or unstructured.
The task lacks personal meaning for you.

The “two-minute rule” is an effective counter for procrastination. The rule states that if you take two minutes to pick up stuff you don’t want to pick up, complete something you don’t want to, or start writing something you have been putting off, you are now a little closer to completing what you need to. By doing this, you have chipped away at the task and made it easier to accomplish more later as opposed to building up throughout the week. This small effort helps reduce the scope of the task, and allows one to procrastinate less the next time they try to work on that task.

Another useful tool against procrastination is known as creating a “three-day habit.” This states that if you do something for three days consecutively, it becomes easier to do and you feel more motivated to do it. If instead you decided to approach the task in a non-consecutive manner, you are more likely to feel less motivated and increase frustration as your list of tasks grows.

There are some great apps that can help both adults and children with finding increased motivation to get tasks done. These include:

Finch: Finch is a self care pet app that helps you feel prepared and positive, one day at a time. Take care of your pet by taking care of yourself! As you meet your goals your pet can earn clothes, food, and other items. You can also join with friends so they can encourage you onwards towards success!

Todoist: Task manager and to-do list. Your tasks are automatically sorted into Today, Upcoming, and custom Filter views to help you prioritize your work

Tomato Timer: Tomato Timer helps you complete tasks by chunking the time you spend working into "work sessions", which are punctuated by breaks.. Work for some period of time, then take a break. After a few work sessions, take a longer break.

Forest: When you want to stay focused, plant a tree. The tree will grow while you do your work. Leaving the app to do other things on your phone will cause your tree to die.

Rescuetime: When you trigger a Focus Session, RescueTime blocks the sites that most negatively impact your focus.